บท 14: chapter 14
When humans won the evolution war decades ago, they finally succeeded in driving out beasts from their cities. However, some lands were unclaimed.
Several beasts that were much stronger and more intelligent resided in these lands, along with many other lesser beasts. Because of this, it was called the outland the home of beasts.
The extremely high numbers of beasts made it difficult for psykers to charge into the outlands carelessly.
Humans constructed a tall defensive wall around the subjugated lands to prevent sudden beast attacks and called it the safe zone.
In one of the deepest regions of California's outlands. An elite squad consisting of a group of psykers and a few soldiers that were normal humans with no special abilities but armed with laser guns powered by core crystals are currently in the middle of battle against a swarm of large mutated praying mantises.
There seemed to be no end to the swarm of beasts attacking them after several hours of fighting.
Some of the squad members were already dead while the rest were injured and exhausted.
"Carl, how long is it going to take reinforcements to arrive? Our energy is almost drained and we can hold on for much longer before our defense collapses." The captain of the squad yelled loudly at one of his subordinates in charge of emergency communication.
"Captain Steve, I wasn't told how long it would take to get here. However, I was assured that they would definitely send reinforcements to save us." Carl responded frantically as he focused on killing more beasts.
"Damn it." Captain Steve silently cursed. "This is really horrible, but I want you all to stay focused and keep our defenses intact." He shouted aggressively.
This was the most difficult situation they could get themselves into and there wasn't anybody else captain Steve could blame but himself because he pushed his men this far despite knowing the dire consequences of his actions which has now led them all to this predicament.
Humans lifestyle progressed slowly and in a few years civilization thrived within the safe zone, however, psyker would occasionally travel into the outlands to hunt down beasts for the main purpose of attaining beasts cores and other valuable body parts of some beasts that could be sold for an extravagant amount of money.
Beast hunting was also considered a way to drastically reduce the increasing population of beasts and humans to regain more unclaimed lands.
As a result, there were many guilds and clans that occasionally sent psykers to the outlands to kill beasts. This was in order to obtain these treasures and accumulate more wealth.
Captain Steve's squad was created under the government's jurisdiction for the same purposes as guilds and clans.
However, because many talented psykers prefer to sign guild contracts or receive sponsorship from clans due to the high amount of money they were offered which the governments could afford.
The government's Psykers Association guilds lacked manpower compared to guilds and clans. Although it managed the affairs of other private guilds and its affiliates, the devastating truth was that it held little authority.
In this way, the government could not make more profit than guilds and clans, causing it to slowly lose its political power.
Captain Steve was a patriot and devoted soldier whose belief was that every psyker should use their ability to serve their country rather than use it for their own greed to fill up their pockets.
As usual, he led his team into the outlands for another expedition. This entire mission went smoothly and they achieved more than their aim but Captain Steve became greedy for achievements.
There were certain regions that were restricted for a hunting squad to enter because the area was filled more ferocious beasts.
Only hunting squads with three A-rank psykers or one S-rank psyker could cross such boundaries. This was a qualification that the Government's Psykers Association could not achieve.
Captain Steve became overconfident because of how easy the current expedition seemed to be.
He also desperately wanted to prove to both the guilds and clans that always mocked the government Guilds that they were y clearing a prohibited region. This made him order his men to advance forward and ignore the boundary.
Captain Steve's selfish decision had put him and his men's lives in terrible danger. The only hope to survive was the back up squad they were expecting to arrive, but they had to do all they could to stay alive until they got there.
In less than thirty minutes, the wave of bees attacking them had doubled and the squad was almost overwhelmed by their numbers.
"Sir, I don't think I can hold on anymore. My core energy has completely be depleted." A totally exhausted soldier complained to Steve.
"Stop whining. If you can no longer use your abilities, snap it out, grab a gun, and continue fighting. We have to hold on till back up arrives unless you want to die." Captain replied furiously as the battle progressed.
After a short while, the beasts finally pushed the remaining psykers to their limits. Three members of the squad including Steve were still fighting, but they were being pushed back.
"We're already dead, sir." A soldier said as he helplessly fell on his knees due to exhaustion but his comment attracted everyone's attention as he continued speaking.
"Which person in their right state of mind would choose to come out here to save us? We have crossed the boundary and we all know that there is no other squad capable of handling this situation except private guilds."
"We all know there is no way our superiors can seek assistance from any private guild to rescue us on short notice unless they were offered something extremely valuable."
"Despite you hiding it, we can see that you're also exhausted. So let's face the truth, sir, this might be the end of the road for us." The soldiers solemnly concluded.
The rest of the team agreed with their colleagues. They were all out of stamina and could no longer fight.
There was no point in delaying it since death was inevitable so they decided to give up and get it over with sooner.
"Regardless of what you think, keep fighting if you want to live." Captain Steve shouted relentlessly and ignored what his subordinate said even if he was right.
However, contrary to his statement, nobody followed his orders because they were too tired to move their bodies.
Nonetheless, Steve continued to try to kill more monsters, but he soon became fatigued like everyone else.
He slowly sank to his knees. "I'm sorry, you all got into this mess because of me." He said in an apologetic tone.
When they saw that their preys no longer showed resistance, the mantis descended to the ground and slowly approached Steve and his men.
"I guess this is truly the end zone for us." Steve said, quivering as he watched how they were being stalked by the group of mantis.
As the mantis got closer, Steve mustered the rest of his strength to plunge his weapon into the mantis' head but unfortunately he missed his aim.
A mantis was about to rip off Steve's head when it suddenly froze into ice crystals including the rest of the mantis standing in close proximity to the rest of the squad members.
A couple of massive fireblasts incinerated most of the mantises flying in the air causing them fall to the ground.
Steve and his subordinates eyes widened as they stared at the burnt bodies of the insects on the ground. They were dumbfounded by the series of events they just witnessed in the past few seconds.
They were already prepared to die but who would have known that at the last minute there would be a miracle to save them?
They weren't sure if it was the reinforcements they expecting.
However, they were more amazed by an object moving at supersonic speed in the air which sliced the rest of the mantises flying.
It was moving at a very high speed which made it impossible for anyone of them to see its movement clearly.
All they could see was blood splattering in the air and insect severed body parts falling to the ground.
"What the hell is that, Captain?" A soldier asked Steve while watching how the congregation of mantis that was difficult for them to battle was being annihilated.
"It should be a who, not a what." An unfamiliar voice said before Steve could answer.
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AUTHOR NOTE
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